1936 in television

Events

• July 7 – At David Sarnoff's request for an experiment of RCA's electronic television technology, NBC's first attempt at actual programming is a 30-minute variety show featuring speeches, dance ensembles, monologues, vocal numbers, and film clips. It is shown to 225 of RCA's licensees on 22 centimeter screens, 343 lines per picture, 30 pictures per second.
• August – 72 hours of medium-definition television broadcasts of the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin are seen by approximately 150,000 people in public viewing rooms in Berlin and Potsdam.
• November 2 – The first regular high-definition television service from the BBC, based at Alexandra Palace in London, officially begins broadcasting. The service alternates on a weekly basis between John Logie Baird's 240-line mechanical system and the Marconi-EMI's 405-line all-electronic system. Programmes are broadcast daily, Monday to Saturday, at 15:00–16:00 and 20:00–22:00.
• November 6 – NBC in New York demonstrates electronic television to invited members of the press, with a 40-minute program of live acts and films, received on 30 centimeter television screens.
• First coaxial cables are laid between New York and Philadelphia by AT&T; they will transmit television and telephone signals.
• By this year there are approximately 2,000 television receivers worldwide.

  Debuts

• October 8 – Picture Page is first broadcast as part of the BBC's test transmissions prior to launch
• November 3 – Starlight, a variety show, debuts on the BBC.
• Theatre Parade premieres on the BBC.

  Television shows

Births

• January 1 – Valora Norland, actress
• January 25 – Diana Hyland, actress, Peyton Place
• January 28 – Alan Alda, actor, star of M*A*S*H
• February 3 – Mariclare Costello, actress, The Waltons
• February 4 – Gary Conway, actor, Burke's Law
• February 11 – Burt Reynolds, actor, Gunsmoke, Dan August, Evening Shade
• February 20
• *Larry Hovis, actor, Hogan's Heroes
• *Marj Dusay, actress, Guiding Light
• February 29 – Alex Rocco, actor
• March 5 – Dean Stockwell, actor, Quantum Leap
• March 27 – Jerry Lacy, actor, Dark Shadows
• April 14 – Kenneth Mars, actor, He & She
• April 18 – Richard A. Colla, actor, Days of Our Lives
• May 12 – Tom Snyder, talk show host
• May 14 – Bobby Darin, singer and actor
• May 23 – Charles Kimbrough, actor, Murphy Brown
• May 27 – Louis Gossett, Jr., actor
• June 11 – Chad Everett, actor, Medical Center
• June 30
• *Nancy Dussault, actress, Too Close for Comfort
• *Don Taylor, director
• July 24 – Ruth Buzzi, actress, comedian, Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In
• August 15 – Pat Priest, actress, The Munsters
• September 13 – Joe E. Tata, actor, Beverly Hills, 90210
• September 14 – Walter Koenig, actor, Ensign Chekhov on Star Trek
• September 24 – Jim Henson, puppeteer, creator of The Muppets
• October 26 – Shelley Morrison, actress, Will & Grace
• October 31 – Michael Landon, actor and producer, Bonanza, Little House on the Prairie
• November 19 – Dick Cavett, talk show host
• December 8 – David Carradine, actor, Kung Fu,
• December 22 – Héctor Elizondo, actor, Chicago Hope, Last Man Standing
• December 29 – Mary Tyler Moore, actress, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show